Raymond B. Williams

LAFOLLETTE DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR IN THE HUMANITIES

Raymond Williams joined the Wabash faculty in 1965, rose to full professor in 1977, and became the Charles D. and Elizabeth S. LaFollettee Distinguished Professor in the Humanities in 1989. In 1995, through a $5 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., he founded the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion. He served as Director of the Wabash Center until his retirement.

In 1993, Williams received the Ray L. Hart Award from the American Academy of Religion for his work in organizing Lilly-funded teaching workshops for young scholars in the field of religion. Those workshops served as the precursor to the establishment of the Wabash Center.

Williams is a leading international authority on Swaminarayan Hindusim and the religions of immigrants to the United States by people of India and Pakistan. He has written six books on the subject, including An Introduction to Swaminarayan Hinduism and Christian Pluralism in the United States.